7918 miles from home
by OzMissieK
Summary: Don and Charlie travel 7918 miles from home to the other side of the world for this adventure.
1. Chapter 1

Note: this is my first FF, please be gentle.

Don jumped into wakefulness as he heard a voice over the loudspeaker say "Ladies and Gentlemen, please fasten your seatbelts, we are about to descend into Tullarmarine Airport in Melbourne. Local time is 2.42am and the weather is clear. Thank you for flying with Qantas Airways". Charlie was already sitting up ready to go and shifting excitedly in his seat. This was the first time he had been to Australia.

Charlie had been invited to be a guest lecturer and convinced Don to come along for a holiday. Charlie & Alan had been feeling Don was working too hard lately and needed a break.

The Eppes brothers stepped out into the airport and looked out at the sea of faces looking for a sign saying "Professor Eppes", or similar.

It wasn't long before they spotted an older man with a handwritten sign saying "Charles Eps". Charlie nudged Don "They've spelled my name wrong!" Don just rolled his eyes, thinking of all the work he had back home and wondering how Charlie had got him to agree to this trip.

"Hi, I'm Charlie and this is my brother Don", Charlie said when they had reached the man.

"Professor Eppes, it's an honour to meet you, I'm Douglas Hennessy, head of the Maths department at Monash University." The man replied. "As try as I might, I couldn't convince anyone else to come and greet you at 2am". He continued apologetically, though he sounded rather unconvincingly. Doug was a huge fan of Charlie's work and couldn't wait to meet him.

Don and Charlie followed Doug out of the airport and to the car. The whole time Doug and Charlie compared notes on various mathematical theories and Don wished he was anywhere but here.

The drive down the freeway was uneventful; Don even dozed for a while. Charlie and Doug kept up a steady stream of conversation, with Charlie doing most of the talking. IT wasn't long before they arrived at Doug's home and Doug showed them to their room. Charlie was asleep in no time, but Don tossed and turned, unable to get comfortable. He blamed the 24 hour flight and sleeping sitting up.

"Shhhhhhh" at the top of a child's voice, followed by a woman saying "Come away from there, you'll wake our guests." Giggling then loud, running footsteps on the stairs, then sounds of breakfast being made and the smell of freshly brewed coffee.

It took Don a few minutes to work out where he was. He looked over and saw Charlie fast asleep – that guy could sleep through almost anything! Don decided to get out of bed and go downstairs. He felt groggy, but had been tossing and turning most of the night, so assumed any more sleep was out of the question. He hunted around for some clothes and headed downstairs.

Downstairs he found the kitchen. This was more a fluke than actually remembering where it was, or maybe it was the smell of coffee. Doug had shown it to him & Charlie when they arrived, but Don was too tired to remember much, especially after only a few hours sleep. He was greeted with a scene of chaos. Two small boys sat at the kitchen table surrounded by the remnants of breakfast.

Before Don could step through the door, he was greeted with a flying bowl of soggy, half eaten Weet Bix and a grinning, giggling 2 year old boy.

"I'm so sorry" the woman in the kitchen said apologetically trying to clean up the mess "he's at the 'Thank God You're So Cute' stage and thinks he can get away with anything!"


	2. Chapter 2

The woman was young and pretty with brown hair. She looked a lot like Doug, but her eyes were blue where his were brown. Her shirt was splattered with Weet Bix and she looked slightly frazzled.

"I'm Anna, Doug's daughter" she said with a smile, "and these two monsters are Stephen and Philip." She continued with obvious affection while moving a second bowl of Weet Bix out of the way of the 2 year old who cried out in protest. "You must be one of the Eppes brothers, I'm guessing Don, you don't look like a mad mathematician!" She smiled and started to hold out her hand to shake his, and thought better of it, instead grabbing a tea towel off the bench to wipe away more Weet Bix. Don, used to either having breakfast alone, or with other adults, was unsure what to think about the scene in front of him. Anna noticed the expression on his face and laughed. "Before you ask, this is normal."

"Dad will be back soon, he's just gone to get some more milk, please, have a seat." She said while moving some clothes off one of the chairs to clear a space.

The chaotic breakfast continued around Don as he gazed sleepily around him. He really shouldn't have come on this trip. He still had no idea how he was talked in to it.

Charlie slept on upstairs, oblivious to the noise and chaos from downstairs. Don could feel a headache coming on.

The two "little monsters" finished their breakfast, Anna cleaned them up, then shooed them into the lounge to watch TV. Don heard the familiar childhood sounds of Sesame Street from the other room.

Anna cleaned up the kitchen and put a fresh pot of coffee in the machine. "Dad should be back by now" she said half to herself, worried, "the milk bar is just at the end of the street." Just then, Doug came in with milk. "Sorry I took so long. Mr. Gupta's daughter had a baby girl last week and was showing me photos. Oh, good morning Don, I take it Charlie is still sleeping." Don thought Dough was way too cheerful for this time of the morning, especially with little sleep! "I see you've met Anna and the boys." Don nodded in the affirmative. "Good, good. Help yourself to some coffee," he continued putting the coffee pot, mug, milk and sugar on the table after pouring himself a cup and opening the newspaper. "Charlie doesn't start his lectures until tomorrow, so we can have a quiet day today, let you boys get over your jetlag."

Don reached for the coffee and spotted the sport section on the table. He started reading, all of it was sports he knew nothing about.

"Oh, do you like sport?" Doug had noticed him with the paper. "There's football on this Saturday, I can organize tickets if you'd like to go."

"Me too Dwampa. Widulp go too?" Two year old Philip came in and clambered on Doug's knee. Feeling a bit more awake, Don thought about how Alan would love to be in this scene with his own grandchildren on his knee.

"Football sounds good" replied Don, half wishing it was baseball they were going to see, but any sport would make up for sitting through hours of Charlie's math lectures.

Anna seemed to read his mind. "I'm taking the boys to the Museum on Wednesday, Stevie is doing Dinosaurs at Kinder. You're welcome to come with us if you like." She asked while putting Philip's shoes on. "Just think about it" she smiled "I'm off, I'll be back later."

There was a scurry of kids and bags. They were about to leave when "Oh shoot! I need to change!" Anna raced upstairs and the boys took full advantage of Mum being out of the way with requests from Grandpa for treats and piggy backs. Doug laughed as Anna came back in the room. Don's headache was slowly getting worse. Charlie slept on.

Then there was quiet as Anna and the two boys left the house.


	3. Chapter 3

After dropping the boys off, Philip at Daycare and Stephen at kinder, Anna joined some friends for coffee at a local café. She was telling them about the new arrivals.

"I can't wait for my house to be finished! Living with Mum & Dad is a nightmare." She moaned. "In the early hours of the morning, Dad arrives home with 2 Americans, waking Philip, who decides to sleep with me and put his cold feet on my back." Her friends laughed and she glared at them. "It's not funny."

"Isn't that one of the things you missed about James?" Sarah asked while Anna poked out her tongue. Sarah was Anna's best friend and knew better than anyone how much Anna still grieved over her late husband. James was killed in a car accident before she found out she was expecting Philip.

"Anyway," Anna changed the topic, "One of them, not the Mathematician, comes in this morning, in the middle of breakfast chaos, and Philip throw's his Weet Bix at him!" This put Anna's friends in fits of laughter again. "OK, so that bit is funny."

"So, is he cute? Single?" Sarah teased.

"Well, don't know about single, but he is cute." Anna admitted, almost reluctantly. In the 3 years since her husband died, this was the first time she had let herself look at another guy. She had snuck a few extra glances while cleaning up the breakfast mess, and he was definitely cute.

Talk soon turned to other things and in next to no time it was time to get Stephen from Kinder.

When Anna arrived at kinder, she was a few minutes late, and the teacher pulled her aside. "Ms Fitzgerald, do you have a minute? There's something I need to discuss with you."


	4. Chapter 4

Anna smiled at the teacher, but groaned inwardly. She was hoping to get some work done this afternoon, taking advantage of her Dad being home to play with Stephen. Her publisher was waiting for the final draft of her new book.

"What's the problem Helen?" Anna asked politely.

"How can I put this delicately, my son is having some activities for Book Week next week, and I was, um, hoping you might be able to speak to his class. They are talking about detective novels on Wednesday." Helen Feldman asked. Her 13 year old son was a huge fan of the detective novels Anna wrote, even though they were really aimed at young adults. "I would be happy to help with Babysitting, if that's a problem." Helen hoped she didn't sound too desperate.

Anna didn't really like doing these sorts of talks, but promised she would check her diary and let Helen know the next day. She collected Stephen, his kinder bag and assorted craft creations and made a speedy exit, silently praying that there would be something else in her diary so she wouldn't have to do the talk. Unfortunately for Anna, she was a bad liar, so having an excuse would come across as empty and anyone, even her children, could see through it!

Anna and Stephen arrived home just as Charlie emerged down the stairs. There was a crash and a scream. Stephen was in hysterics and Charlie wasn't sure what hit him. When he woke he wasn't expecting to run into anyone who came up to his waist! Doug and Don appeared at the door, staring at the scene. Stephen was crying and Anna had run to console him. Charlie was looking around, unsure what was going on.

"It's OK Stephen, it was an accident and you're not bleeding," Anna consoled Stephen gently. Turning to Charlie she said, "You must be Charlie. It's OK, it was an accident." She picked Stephen up and took him upstairs. Charlie stood in the hallway, looking stunned "I didn't see him," he said, almost to himself. Doug, hearing the commotion, had come from the kitchen to see Charlie standing there.

"It's OK, mate," Doug said to Charlie, "those kids get everywhere! I didn't think to warn you last night." Charlie, still feeling stunned, followed Doug to the kitchen to join Don.

"Good afternoon sleepy head", Don warmly greeted his brother, "You sure know how to make an entrance."


End file.
